Photoprint-drier.



F. W. POTTER.

PHOTOPRINT DRIER.

- APPLICATION FILED mac. 14. 1914.

Patented J nly 4, 1916.

INVENTR, E5721: fiffifli'i'er;

ATTORNEY WITNESSES:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK W. POTTER, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION.

PHOTOPRINT-DRIER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK W. Forum, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Photoprint-Driers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My present invention relates to dryin and more particularly to a method of an apparatus for drying photographic prints and it has for its object to increase the rapidity with which the prints may be handled and dried; to provide for the eflective drying of a large number of prints with a relatively small and compact apparatus and to generally promote the ease and efliciency with which the operatormay treat his product.

To these and other ends the invention re-v sides in certain improvements and combinations of parts all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated herein, I provide a chamber for the reception of heated air, flues forwardly located relatively to the said chamber and adapted to have connection therewith, (and in which fiuesthe print rolls so called,- that is the wet prints rolled up with sheets of blotting paper and corrugated paper, usually on a tubular core,are inserted) and a fan or blower for forcing the air through the print rolls for effecting the drying of the prints.

The invention, relating to the general type of print drier above referred to, has for its objects to increase the efliciency of the apparatus whereby the prints will be unusually quickly dried; to provide dampers or closures for the respective flues which in the absence of a print roll in a given flue automatically closes that flue, but which closure is automatically opened by the roll when inserted in the flue, so that the roll will be subjected to the drying action of the heated air then permitted to be forced therethrough ;the withdrawal of the dried print roll resulting in the closure of the flue which Specification of Letters Patent.

cheapness.

Patented July 4, 1916.

Application filed December 14, 1914. Serial No. 877,022

such roll had occupied whereby the'utmost possible conservation of the heated air, and of the gas or other fuel for the heating, is acqulred; and to generally construct, comblne and arrange the parts of the apparatus to the ends of simplicity, practicability and The invention is described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and is setforth in the claims.

In the drawings ;Figure 1 is a central vertical section taken from front to rear through the improved photo print drier constructed in accordance with and illustrating one embodiment of my invention. Fig. 2 is i a cross sectional view taken on line 22,

Fig. 1, looking rearwardly. Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on line 3-3, Fig. 1, looking forwardly. Fig. fl is a transverse sectional view through one of the print holding tubes or fluesand its core with a print roll in position thereinand shown in end elevation. I

In carrying out my inventionin its preferred form, I pursue the following method; The wet print is placed between a sheet of absorbent materialsuch as blotting paper on one side and a sheet of spacing material such as corrugated paper on the other,

and the whole wound into a roll, preferably with the convolutions of the corrugated paper outermost. It is maintained in this rolled condition by insertion in a tubular flue or holder F as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings in which a plurality of prints to be dried are indicated at 1, the blotting paper at 2 and the corrugated paper or cardboard at 3. 4 indicates a tubular corepiece about which the winding is-preferablydone to hold the ends tight atthe center. I then drive dry heated air through the holding flue and roll, the air-being admitted at one end and discharged at the other. This air permeates the whole roll and takes up the moisture from all three elements but more particularly from the blotting paper as the latter draws it from the prints until the prints are perfectly dry. The corrugated paper serves to make the roll longitudinally porous so that all the convolutionsare exposed to the drying air,

the ribs thereon serving as spacing members constituting small auxiliary flues, as shown, throughout the roll, which flues give'free passage to the air and multiply, the exposed damp surfaces that are to be affected. When the prints are thoroughly dried, the roll is removed and the prints separated from.the other sheets which are then in condition to receive other wet prints to be similarly treated. I have also disclosed a suitable form of apparatus-for treating the prints by this method.

In the drawings, A represents a chambered casing provided with a cylindrical rear extension (1:, forwardly open to the chamber in the casing A, and having a rear closing wall I).

B represents a tubular branch of the said 1 cylindrical extension a,the same being someing.

what convergent upwardly, opening into the space within the casing extension w, and being open at its lower end receives the heat from a gas burner C located thereunder, but in such a manner or disposition as not to obstruct the free entrance of air into and through the vertical passage constituted by said tubular branchof the chambered cas- D represents an electric motor mounted at the rear of thecylindrical casing extension 0, the shaft (Z of which forwardly and centrally extending carries the fan blades f! at about the junction of the forward end 0 the cylindrical extension at and the main chambered casing A. v

9 represents the front wall of the chambered casing A and forward at a suitable distance beyond this front wall and parallel therewith is another vertical wall h.

F F represent flues or tubular passages of comparatively large diameter supported by and between the aforementioned rear and. front vertical plates 9 and It, said flues being permanently open at their forward ends, but they are provided with closures at their rear ends, which when open permit thepassage of heated air through the fines to which .they are a purtenant, but which when closed act as ampers for absolutely reventing any passage of the heated air or waste through the flues. These closures are made in the form' of circular plates 2', connected by hinges j at their upper edges to the aforementioned front wall 9 of the chambered casing A, so that they will automatically' gravitatively close; and for the greater assurance of their positive closing, they are provided wi .1 weight members is at or near their lower portions.

Each hinged closure plate 2' is provided at its forward face with a right angularly bent strip of flat metal m, here represented as of substantially a bail shape, the same having a considerable extension forwardly beyond the face of the plate, into the flue.

The wet photo prints to bedried are interleaved with sheets of blotting paper, and corrugated paper. board, and wound upon ahollow core, such, for instance, as a mailing tube, the forward end of which is preferably closed or stoppered; the core prints and the sheets with which they are interleaved are wound to constitute a print roll of a diameter to fit and fill the flues, and the length of each roll is approximately, or slightly greater than, the length of the ues. I

The motor and gas heater being set in operation preparatory to using the drier, upon the insertion of a print roll into a given flue the forward end of such roll will first strike against the angular extension m of the closure plate 5, whereupon the continued rearward movement of the print roll will be effecti've to swing the plate i to its fully opened horizontal position as represented by the dotted lines in" the upper part of Fig. 1, whereupon the previously horizontal upper portion of the bail shaped member m now in a vertical or dependent position, acts as a stop for limiting the too far insertion of the roll into the flue.

In practice it is desired that the print rolls shall have their forward end slightly protruding outwardly beyond the front of the drier so that they may be, after the drying, readily grasped, manually, for their withdrawal.

As manifest so soon as a print roll is inserted in a flue, the closure for that flue is by such insertion, automatically opened whereupon the heated air entering through the tubular passage B and carried into the chambered casing A is by the blower forced through the center of the print roll and also through the convolution of the latter as facilitated by the corrugation of the paper board comprised in the make-up of the roll, with the result that the prints became thoroughly and uniformly driedin an unusually short time. For further expediting the drying action by a conservation of the heated air supplied into the chambered casing A, the surrounding walls of such casing A. are forwardly continued as represented by A in Figs. 1 and 2, so that thereby andin conjunction with the vertical wall 9 and It, all of the flues are incased in an inclosed chamber A into which an access of heated air is insured bythe apertures 0 0 provided through the wall forming plate 9 at the front of the casing A. This in a sense provides an oven chamber which is This apparatus aside from the motor driven fan or blower and the annular gas burner may be almost entirely composed of sented by t t in the various views.

The gas burner is so located at the lower open mouth of the tubular passage B that the air entering in the comparatively slight, yet sufficient, space between the burner and such mouth, is amply heated, and all of the so heated air is compelled toenter the chambered casing A by way of the cylindrical extension 42 of such casing to be forwardlyforced by the blades of the blower having their location at the mouth of said extension.

I claim 1. In an apparatus for drying photo graphic prints, the combination with a tuholder.

bular holder adapted to receive the print in a rolled condition, of ablower arranged to force air longitudinally through said 2. In an apparatus for drying photoaphic prints, the combination wlth a tubular holder adapted to receive the print in a rolled condition, of a blower, a hood leading from the blower to one end of the holder, an air inlet in rear of the blower and means for heating the air traversing the inlet.

' 3. In an apparatus for drying photographic prints, the combination with a horizontally disposed tubular holder adapted to receive the print in a rolled condition, of a rotary blower rotating on a horizontal axis, a hood leading from the blower to one end of the holder, a casing surrounding the blower, a vertical air shaft connected to the casing to form an inlet in rear of the blower, and means for heating the air in theshaft.

4. In an apparatus for drying photographic prints, the' combination with an oven and a plurality of tubular holders extending therethrough and adapted to receive the prints in a rolled condition at their outer ends, of a .casing inclosing the oven and holders at their inner ends and a blower within the casing for forcing air through the holders.

5. In an. apparatus for drying photographic prints, the combination with an oven and a plurality of tubular holders extending therethrough and adapted to receive the prints in a a rolled condition at their outer ends, of a casing inclosing the oven and holders at their inner ends, a blower within the casing for forcing air through the' holders and means fordelivering heated air to the blower.

-6. In an apparatus for drying photoaphic prints, the combination with a plu rality of tubular holders, adapted to receive the prints in a rolled condition through leading upwardly to communication with,

their outer ends, of a casing inclosing the inner ends of the holders, a blower within the casing for forcing heated air through the holders and closures forsuch of the holders as are not in use.

7 An apparatus for drying photo prints comprising a chambered casing and means for supplying heated air thereto, a. plurality of flues forwardly open and having their rear end openings connecting with said chambered casing, and provided at their rear ends with closures, movably mounted to open from their normally closed positionsrearwardly and adapted to be automatically opened by the entrance into the flues ofphoto print drier rolls, and a blower operable to' force the heated air in said casing forwardly through such of the flues as have the rear end closures thereof opened by the engagement therewith. of print drier rolls.

8. An apparatus for'dryingphoto prints comprising a chambered casing and an air supply passage open at its lower portion and and for. conveying air into, such casing, a 9 heater adjacent the lower air entrance end of said passage, a plurality of flues forwardly open and having their rear end openings connecting with said chambered casing, and

provided at. their rearends; with closures,

movably mounted to open from their normally closed positions rearwardly, and adapted to be automaticallyopened by the entrance into the flues of photo print drier rolls, and a blower having its location in the said chambered casing and operable to force the heated air therein forwardly through such of the flues as have the rear end 010- sures thereof opened by the presence therein of print drier rolls.

9. An apparatus for drying photo prints comprising a chambered casing and an air supply passage leading thereinto, means for heating the air supplied through said pas-- I sage, a plurality of flues forwardly open and having their rear end openingsconnecting with said chambered casing, and provided at their rear ends with hinged closure plates adapted to swing rearwardly to open, and having within said flues, forwardly extend- -ed angular members, to be engaged for openmg the closure plates by photo print drier rolls and to act as limiting-stops for the rolls and a blower for forcing the heated air in such casing forwardly through such of the flues as by the presence of a drier roll therein, their closure plates are open.

10. An'apparatus for drying photo prints comprising a plurality of flues having permanently open forward and movable 010- sures for closing their rear ends, a cham-, bered casing at the rear of the flues and with which their closure provided ends are connected, means for supplyingheated air to said casing, casing walls forming the cham- 1 0 ber for entirely inclosingall cf the flues with Signed by me at Springfield, Mass, in

gpenngs leading from the first miriied chafmpresence of two subscribing Witnesses.

ere casing thereinto and a ower or fbrcing air from the chambered casing FRANK P through such of the flues as may be open Witnesses:

and also into the inclcsed chamber surround- 1 G. R. DRISCOLL,

ing the fiues. W; S. BELLOWS. 

